


The Talk

by canadiankazz



Category: Vampire: The Masquerade, Vampire: The Masquerade - L.A. By Night (Web Series)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Awkward Conversations, Break Up, Emotions, F/M, Gen, Late Night Conversations, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-01 13:37:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20816030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canadiankazz/pseuds/canadiankazz
Summary: Annabelle and X get Chloe and Jasper tofinallytalk to each other. Set after the epilogues for Season 3 and contains spoilers for them.





	The Talk

**Author's Note:**

> We don't know yet if a conversation like this one is going to occur in the show. Hopefully, if/when Season 4 happens, we'll get Jasper and Chloe to clear the air and talk things out. Until then, this fic will have to do as my wishful thinking. This fic started out as a workshop/RPG practice with Cravatfiend and we both found it pretty cathartic. Thanks to her, as always, and thanks to the vamily. I hope you enjoy.

“Annabelle, why are we here?” Jasper growled.

Annabelle bit her lip, but tried to hide her mild nervousness with a little smile. “It’s a surprise.”

Annabelle had asked Jasper to meet at a playground. It was almost two in the morning, and the area was very quiet save for nighttime insects and the distant rumble of cars.

“A surprise?” Jasper gave her a hard, flat look. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“Trust me, yeah? This is important.”

Jasper sighed with a little grumble. “Fine. Whatever. Is it dangerous?”

“No. Well...” she reconsidered. “It shouldn't be.”

Jasper growled softly to himself. He wasn’t in a good mood for surprises. “So… what is it?”

“Wait here.” Annabelle hurried off to the other side of a line of trees, where X was waiting with Chloe. They both looked anxious. 

“You’ve got to know, this feels a little like a trap right?” Chloe said with a nervous chuckle.

X gave her a reassuring smile. “No, well… maybe. But it’s not a trap with teeth. Except it kind of is… hmm…”

“We brought you here so that you would have a chance to talk with Jasper,” Annabelle whispered to her.

Chloe’s face brightened. She had come out tonight because X and Annabelle had told her they had a surprise for her.

Annabelle looked back to where she had last seen the Nosferatu lurking, only to find that he was gone. “God damn it, Jasper!” she shouted. Annabelle stepped out and strode angrily back across the playground. “Jasper, I _know_ you’re here! Come on…” Chloe and X followed, looking disappointed.

“I… it’s okay, Annabelle… I guess he’s just not ready to see me,” Chloe said. She sighed, frustrated. “He used to do this, you know… avoid me when I was mad at him. Then he’d write me a letter to say he was sorry, or send an awkward text.” She smiled sadly.

“But he was just here though. He’s hiding somewhere,” Annabelle insisted.

“Jasper?” X called. “Are you here?”

“Please, Jasper?” Annabelle begged. “I know this is uncomfortable, but you can’t avoid her forever!”

They waited for a few seconds. Annabelle frowned and shook her head. She was thinking of what to shout at Jasper next when Jasper decided that they were probably right and made himself known again.

“Okay, fine. Can you please stop yelling my name into the night?” he growled. He wasn’t too loud, but still loud enough. He appeared, standing off to the side a little.

Chloe jumped, startled, and covered her mouth to smother a yelp. "Jasper?"

“Well, if you didn’t disappear at every little sign of conflict,” Annabelle argued.

“I don’t disappear at every conflict,” he snapped, “and besides… even if I do… it’s kind of what my… people are good at.” He growled, avoiding using the word “Nosferatu” while outside. He glanced at Chloe, who was breathing hard. Her hand was still over her mouth. "Hi." He gave her a sad little smile.

"Hi... I... how did you...?"

Jasper shrugged ever so slightly. "It's a... thing I can do."

Chloe nodded a little, remembering some of the bits and pieces about vampire powers she had picked up. "Yeah... um... I've heard about invisible... but I've never seen it before. Wow! Um... how are you?"

"I've been okay." Jasper didn’t sound okay. He sounded carefully emotionless. He gave Annabelle and X a glare, knowing they had set this up. X cowered back a little, smiling sheepishly.

Chloe noticed his blank tone. She frowned, looking him over. She remembered that the last time she saw him, he was injured. "Is your arm better?" Almost out of habit, she took a tiny step towards him.

Jasper held up his left hand to show her. His flesh was devoid of any black scarring from his burn from touching Eva’s wards. He had healed that a long time ago. "Yeah."

Chloe looked relieved. "Good. Um… I heard that you had..." She reached for him, but stopped herself from touching him. Jasper wanted to step away from her, but he held his ground.

“Heard that I had what?” he growled.

“That the um… that the Ivory Tower hurt you.”

“Yeah. They did.”

Chloe licked her lips, nervous. “Well… are you okay?”

Jasper half shrugged. “I’ve been healing. It’s been slow.”

“Oh…” Chloe resisted the urge to say that she was sorry. None of this was her fault, after all. Still, she felt bad for Jasper. Her mind was filled with memories of intimate moments with him. She could remember his hugs, his laugh, watching movies together with his head in her lap, falling asleep next to each other after staying up until dawn. She sighed and glanced at Annabelle.

“X and I wanted to give you two a chance to talk. Chloe told us a little of what happened to her,” Annabelle explained to Jasper.

A very awkward pause settled between them. When Jasper was alive, he had never, ever been very good at big, deep, serious discussions. This was one he had been avoiding for a long time, and he knew that he was being forced into being unable to avoid it any longer. Jasper licked his fangs, tense with internal conflict. The small part of him that still loved Chloe desperately wanted to reach out, to touch her and hug her close to him. He could see that she was fighting that same instinct. She was afraid. Annabelle and X, both being empathetic and sympathetic to their plight, waited to see who would budge first.

"How... have you been?" Jasper asked Chloe at last.

Chloe shrugged and nodded, hugging herself. She was feeling the chill of the night air that the others were able to ignore. "I've been good, considering... you know... everything."

"You look good,” Jasper admitted. “Better than last time I saw you."

She gave him a little smile. "Thanks."

Jasper rumbled to himself, unsettled and unhappy. Being close to Chloe like this felt like a bruise on his already damaged soul. He looked at Annabelle and X. They glanced at each other. X was wringing his hands, waiting for the screaming to start, or the tears.

“Um… could you two… give us a few minutes, please?” Jasper requested.

“Uh… yeah,” Annabelle replied. “Absolutely. I’m sure you two have… a lot of talk about.” She pulled on X’s arm, gesturing for him to follow her.

X nodded. “Yeah, the energy in here is… you two need to…” He frowned, wiggling his fingers at them. “Sort your shit.”

Jasper pointed a long, stern finger at him. “Don’t listen in, X.”

“I… yeah, that’s fine,” X nodded with a nervous smile.

“We’ll be right over here,” Annabelle assured them, pulling X along.

X didn’t resist. He left with Annabelle and they went around behind the trees, giving Jasper and Chloe some privacy.

Chloe gave Jasper a shaky little smile. He didn’t return it.

"Chloe... why are you looking for me?" Jasper asked.

Chloe blinked and frowned. She thought it was obvious why she had been looking for him. “Jasper, I… you left me! You and Eva, you _ left _ me! You disappeared, she disappeared, and I didn’t have anywhere to go, and no one to talk to!” As she spoke, she felt herself getting more and more riled up. There were a lot of feelings she had been trying to suppress for a long time. “You abandoned me, Jasper! All I want, all I’ve ever wanted, is answers! _ Why _? Why did you leave me?” Her voice cracked. Her cheeks were flushed red with emotion.

Jasper bowed his head. He had been expecting this. “I’m sorry. I’ve fucked things up.”

“Yeah, you have!” Chloe raged.

Jasper growled quietly, loathing himself, his decisions, and the results they had brought in this instance.

Chloe crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for an answer. “So?”

“I can’t speak for Eva, but… I don’t have a good reason for leaving you in the lurch like that.”

Chloe sighed, frustrated and sad.

“Well, I do have a reason, but you won’t like it.” Jasper met her eyes again with a dry, humourless little chuckle.

Chloe leaned back against the supporting bars of a swing set, her arms still crossed. “Give it to me.”

“It was… an attempt to push you away,” Jasper admitted.

Chloe pursed her lips. “You know what? You’re right. I don’t like that answer.”

Jasper half-shrugged again and folded his arms around himself. “It is what it is.”

“Well… you are the absolute worst,” Chloe said, eyes blazing. “How much effort does it take to, I don’t know, write me a note on a napkin, huh?”

Jasper flinched and looked away again, snarling. “I regret leaving you that note. It was one of the most stupid things I have ever done in a long, long line of stupid things.” He chuckled again dryly, a snarl echoing in it. “That hasn’t changed about me. I keep finding ways of getting myself into shit. I was just… I was trying to encourage you to move on and to go live your life. How the hell was I supposed to know you would recognize my handwriting?”

“Were you there in the cafe that night? With me and Dianne and Juan?” Chloe asked.

Jasper nodded.

“But hidden with that… invisibility thing you can do now?”

He nodded again with a little affirmative growl.

“And… you heard me talking about being invited to Thanksgiving?”

“And Dianne’s engagement rings Pinterest board,” Jasper muttered.

Chloe’s anger cracked a little and she smiled.

“I had hoped that you would eventually move on from me,” Jasper continued.

Chloe shook her head. "I didn't want to. Your disappearance was like something out of Unsolved Mysteries and no one seemed to care about it except for me. Everyone forgot about you except for me!" She angrily dug out a tissue from her pocket and wiped her eyes. She had started to cry, just a little bit, and quickly composed herself.

Jasper wasn’t sure what to say about that. He settled on mumbling, “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, Jasper…” Chloe sighed. Her voice lost some of it’s edge. “I never wanted to move on from you. I always believed that you were out there somewhere… and I was right!”

“The last thing I wanted was for you to follow me into the darkness. Chloe… I’ve done horrible things. _ I am _a horrible thing. Nothing and no one can change that. There’s still hope you for you maybe go on and live some kind of… good life, but the longer you stay in this world, the harder it’s going to be to leave it.”

Chloe shook her head slightly. “I think… that might already be too late. I really, genuinely don’t want to go back.”

“Why?”

"Why? Because I know too much and I don’t want my memory wiped. Because I miss you. Because... the same reason why you apparently stalked me for..." She trailed off, feeling her emotions rising again. A lot of her anger had simmered back down. Now she was mostly sad and tired. She bit her lip, not wanting to cry, not just now.

Jasper licked his fangs in regretful contemplation. This was going to be hard for him to say, but he had to say it. He had been putting this off for too long. "Chloe,” he snarled. He paused and cleared his throat. He attempted to soften his voice, to not sound as monstrous as he felt. “Chloe, I’ve missed you too. I… part of me will always love you, but… we can't be together any more." He maintained as steady eye contact as he could with her. His intense, unnatural stare met her sad green eyes. 

Chloe swallowed and shook her head again. She didn’t want to believe what he was saying was true. Despite this denial, she was terrified to realize that there was a tiny voice inside of herself agreeing with him. Some small part of her was absolutely horrified by what had happened to him and by this world of vampires and ghouls she had fallen into trying to find him. Well, here he was. Mission accomplished. The weight of that horror and five years apart settled between them. Chloe shivered in the night wind.

Jasper went on, not wanting to give Chloe a chance to interrupt him. He was on a roll now. She had wanted him to talk, after all. "I stalked you for that time because you're my last connection to my old life and I believed that my life, my…” he paused briefly and corrected himself, “my _ existence _ as this _ thing _ I’ve become, wouldn't have been worth living if anything bad happened to you. I have had countless nightmares of waking up one night to find you had become something like this." He gestured to his face, to his sunken cheeks, enormous fangs and deathly pale skin. His Nosferatu curse would not be denied.

Chloe exhaled slowly. Her throat felt tight. "I get that. But... we... I know about you now, and I know about Kindred stuff. I… I understand that a normal human would be in great danger knowing about all this... the Masquerade and all. But… I’m not a normal human any more, Jasper, so... why can't we see each other?"

Jasper shook his head. "Because I'm _ dead_, Chloe," he said softly, “and you’re not. Not yet.”

"I wanted... I wanted to-"

"I know what you wanted to do. You asked us to embrace you, and wouldn't listen to us when we tried to tell you what a horrible idea it is. If you keep that up, someone else either eventually will embrace you, or they’ll just kill you outright. Trust me… barring a _ very _ small exception, _ all _ Kindred are monsters, and we all have a monster inside us with _ no _ exception, and that monster is _ constantly _ telling us to kill, and to destroy, and fuck the consequences.” Jasper shifted his weight and flexed his fists. His voice was rough as he ranted, desperately trying to make Chloe understand. “If I could leave this world… go back to my human life, to you… I would. But I _ can’t_, and no amount of hoping or wishing can change that. Love can’t change that. Nothing good happens to Kindred who try to hold onto their human lives. It always ends in death and heartache. So, yeah,” Jasper sighed, gesturing towards her, “I tried to encourage you to live your life without me and I abandoned you to push you away and yeah, I’m an asshole for doing that, I know. You didn’t deserve any of that. It wasn’t fair and I’m sorry."

Chloe wiped her eyes. What Jasper was saying hurt, but it was true. "I still worry about you though. You can’t change that.”

“No, I know. I know,” Jasper said softly. “I worry about you too. There is no way to be what I am and not have enemies. Everyone hates each other, and if they can’t hurt me, then they’ll hurt anyone connected to me who they think is weaker. I think they’ve shown pretty well that they definitely can hurt me though,” he added with a brief, pained laugh. 

Chloe sniffled. “I was so scared… when I found out about what they did to you on the Hollywood Sign.”

"Chloe,” Jasper rumbled, unable to keep the snarl out of his voice. His gaze was on the playground gravel at his feet. “I want to keep you _ safe_. Please understand, and trust me on this. If anything else bad happened to you, it would ruin me. I don’t have a lot to live for, or at least I didn’t think that I did, but knowing you’re not dead is one of the reasons I’m still around. Right now, and for the foreseeable future, being anywhere near me is probably one of the most dangerous places you can be." 

Chloe took several deep breaths, feeling more tears welling up. “Jasper?” she said, getting his attention.

He met her gaze again. She took another small step towards him, looking pensive. He knew this look. She was asking for physical comfort. In a way, they were both craving it.

Jasper unfolded his arms from across his chest and stomach. Chloe took that as an invitation and wrapped her arms around him. The hug started off soft, but one-sided and Jasper resisted hugging her back. It wasn’t long before she was clinging to him as tightly as she could and when he finally wrapped his arms around her back as well, Chloe started to sob. Years of grief, fear, and anxiety poured out. Her shoulders shook and Jasper held her. He was very starkly aware of how warm and alive she was in his arms compared to his cold Kindred body. He didn’t mention that though. He didn’t need to. He knew she would be painfully aware of that as well.

Jasper waited for Chloe’s tears to slow down a little. He found himself stroking her back. Her body felt agonizingly familiar in his arms. He rumbled softly, trying not to dwell on the up-swell of memories that threatened to overwhelm him.

“I still love you,” Chloe said softly. “Part of me always will.”

“Yeah, I know,” Jasper snarled softly. “I… feel the same.” He knew that as time went on and his humanity diminished further and further still, the part of him that loved her would also diminish. He didn’t want to tell her that though. He wasn’t breathing, but he could still feel a painful clenching in his throat and chest. "But… still, Chloe, we can't be together," Jasper reminded her as softly and gently as he could. "Not any more. I'm sorry."

Chloe nodded. To her ear, it was almost as if he was trying to remind himself of that as well. She reluctantly pulled back out of his arms and shivered, disgusted with the part of herself that was frightened of him and was glad to not be touching him any more. He felt too thin, too still, too cold, too unnatural. She missed his heartbeat. Chloe wiped her eyes on her sleeve. She knew that what he was saying was true, at least for now. She knew, she just couldn't bare say it out loud for herself.

“I’m sorry too,” she whispered. “You’re so cold.”

Jasper snarled and took a step back away from her. “Yeah, well… corpses are.”

Chloe nodded and sniffled. It was a hard, painful truth. “So… what now?”

“For now… you have to stop trying to find me. Stay under the radar. Stay safe.”

“Will you stay safe too?”

He smiled slowly. “I… will do my best, but these are dangerous times.”

Chloe nodded, sniffling.

“Um, where are you staying?” Jasper asked. “Let's take you home."

"I have um..." Chloe coughed and wiped her eyes again. Despite the Vitae in her system, compared to Jasper, she felt so painfully human. "I have a place I've been hiding," she choked out.

"Let's call the others back over and get you back there. Call you a taxi or an Uber or something."

Chloe watched as Jasper wiped his eyes as well. She could smell Vitae. It was very faint, but it made her mouth water. That scared her too. It hadn’t occurred to her until now that as a ghoul, she could have Jasper’s blood. The thought thrilled her a little. She knew in her gut that he would hate that though. 

Chloe composed herself and walked back to where X and Annabelle had been lurking, trying to eavesdrop but not make it seem like they were. She gave them a watery little smile. “You guys can come back over now.”

They did, looking anxiously between Chloe and Jasper. “You two okay?” Annabelle asked.

“We uh… we talked some things out, had a cry and a hug,” Chloe said, nodding. “I think we’re okay.”

“Yeah?” Annabelle looked unsure. She looked at Jasper, trying to read him. He didn’t try to hide how upset he was.

“We did talk,” he admitted, “and we can’t be together any more.”

“At least, not right now,” Chloe cut in.

Jasper looked at her sharply with a little snarl.

Chloe ignored the sound. “Right now, things are too dangerous,” she went on, “but… maybe in the future?” She gave Jasper a hopeful look.

Jasper started to shake his head ‘no,’ but sighed and shrugged. “Well… we’ll see. Annabelle, X… can one of you take her back to… wherever she’s staying at the moment?”

“Yeah, sure,” X said. He looked a little relieved that the confrontation was coming to a close. He didn’t like tension, not one bit.

Chloe got a phone out of her bag and arranged for a taxi to come and collect her. X agreed to go back to her current safe house with her. Annabelle decided to linger back with Jasper, to make sure he was okay. She had a suspicion that even if he wasn’t, he was going to hide those emotions, but she wanted to show him that she was there regardless.

The wait for the taxi was awkward. Chloe shivered and hugged herself, feeling the chill of the night air. Annabelle started to pull off her jacket.

“Here, Chloe,” she said, offering it to her. 

Chloe shook her head. “No, thank you.”

Annabelle frowned. “If you’re sure? You look cold though.”

“I’ll be alright.”

Annabelle put the jacket back on.

“Jasper, will you please keep safe?” Chloe requested softly. “I would also be… ruined, _ again_, if anything happened to you… _ again_!”

“We’ll try our best to keep him in one piece,” Annabelle told Chloe with a reassuring smile.

Jasper smiled wryly, knowing none of them were good at keeping out of trouble.

“That’s all I ask… for now,” Chloe said. She looked at Jasper again. “You’ve got good people around you, Jasper. Hold onto them.”

Jasper looked down, but nodded. He knew now that his coterie were willing to go to extremes for him. He still wasn’t completely sure how or why, but they cared about him. They were willing to help keep him alive, despite his self-destructive tendencies. Chloe was right. They were, by and large, good for him to hold onto… for now, at least.

"I was alone for a long time,” Jasper admitted, “but yeah...I've got people now to make sure I'm okay. I want that for you too. you still have a life to live, Chloe."

She took another deep sigh, keeping herself calm. "Did you ever find out... who did it?" She asked, timid.

"Did what?”

“Who… did this to you? Who killed you?”

Jasper shook his head and growled. "No."

Chloe paled. Annabelle frowned and X wrung his hands nervously.

"And that's what scares me, Chloe," Jasper continued. "That’s what scared me for a long, long time. Whoever did this could decide to target you. The enemies I've made, they could go after you. They already _ have._ Please understand...."

"I do. I... " Chloe swallowed and nodded. Her voice shook. "I do. I get it."

"I'm sorry," Jasper said quietly. It was almost a whimper.

"I am too," Chloe agreed, just as softly.

“Jasper,” X said, “We... “ he hesitated and tensed his jaw, gathering his nerve. “We’ll do what we can to keep Chloe safe, r-right?” He looked to Annabelle for confirmation.

Annabelle nodded, determined. “Yeah, of course.”

“I… appreciate that,” Jasper said. “Thanks.”

“We’ve got each other’s backs. That’s how we’ll survive,” Annabelle stressed.

"Yeah, sure,” Jasper sighed. “I um... I can't be seen when the cab gets here. I'm going to disappear, but I promise I'm still here, okay?"

Chloe nodded and wiped her eyes again. "Okay. Bye, I guess?"

"... Bye," Jasper growled reluctantly. He waited for everyone to look away, then activated obfuscate again.

Sometimes, when a Kindred activates one of their disciplines, their Beast does not mind. Other times, the Beast decides to take it as an opportunity to assert some degree of control over the situation. When Jasper activated obfuscate, his Beast decided that it wasn’t happy with the situation with Chloe, and it was going to do something about it whether Jasper wanted to or not.

X and Annabelle sensed it first, though Chloe picked it up right after them. Something was wrong. The hairs on the back of Chloe’s neck stood up. She glanced around, anxiously.

“What’s going on? What happened?”

“Hold on,” X said. “I’m going to have a look.” He focused on the spot where Jasper had been standing and willed himself the ability to sense the unseen. He spotted Jasper and his eyes went wide. X put his hands up a little, defensively, as if trying to calm a dangerous animal.

Jasper was near where he had been standing before, but he had squatted down on the playground gravel. He was watching the other three with an extremely intense, predatory gaze. X suspected it might not just be hunger at work here, but possession, and not one Jasper might easily be able to control. Jasper bared his his fangs in an invisible and silent hiss as X spotted him.

“I… can see him,” X breathed, trying not to panic.

“What’s wrong?” Annabelle asked.

“He uh… I think his Beast is doing a thing, or it wants to do a thing. I think Jasper’s not at home right now, not fully. Um… it’s hard to explain.”

Annabelle nodded. “I think I understand. No sudden movements, right?”

“He looks like a leopard stalking a gazelle, so… yeah. No sudden movements,” X agreed, frightened.

Jasper said nothing, remaining silent and focused on Chloe.

“Will he hurt us?” Chloe asked.

“I don’t think so. I mean… I hope not,” X answered.

Annabelle clenched her fists. She didn’t want to have to fight Jasper, but she did just promise to protect Chloe. Jasper could take a hit or two. Chloe, ghoul or not, couldn't. Not in the same way, in any case.

"Okay…” Chloe said, trying to keep calm. “Will he be okay?"

“Yeah, it'll wear off,” X assured her, keeping his eyes on the crouched Nosferatu. “Sometimes, our Beast freaks out and sometimes, it gets possessive. It's just one of the many downsides of our... condition.”

"Okay…” Chloe repeated. She was glad to have Annabelle and X close to her. This thing Jasper was doing spooked her and she didn’t like it. She knew that Jasper had been serious about his talk of a monster being inside of them, but she hadn’t expected a demonstration like this. The thought of Jasper losing control and using those huge fangs of his to hurt someone chilled her more than the wind.

The headlights from the taxi rounded a corner a block away and headed for the playground. Annabelle, X and Chloe all saw it.

“Okay,” Annabelle said in a hushed voice, “here’s what we’ll do. When the taxi pulls up, Chloe and X, you run to it. I’ll stay here and try to grab Jasper if he does anything.”

“Can you see him too?” Chloe asked.

“No, but… um…” Annabelle cursed quietly, wishing she had auspex.

“He hasn’t moved from where he was,” X told her. “He’s just kind of crouched… like a tiger.”

“Right, got it,” Annabelle confirmed, staring at what to her was an empty spot on the playground. “Chloe, X, call me later. Stay safe. Get straight in that taxi and get driving.”

“I will,” Chloe promised. “Thank you for giving me, for giving us I mean, the chance to talk.”

“That’s okay,” Annabelle said.

Chloe bit her lip, looking anxiously at where she thought Jasper was. She was afraid for him, but also afraid of what he might do if he wasn’t in control. She had heard about vampire frenzies. Was this one? Could it become one?

X saw Jasper’s eyes snap to the taxi as it pulled up to the curb by the playground. He growled, his lips peeling back and baring his fangs. He stood up slowly, arching his back, ready to attack the perceived threat.

“Time to go!” X whispered urgently. He grabbed Chloe’s hand and the two of them sprinted for the taxi. 

Annabelle also moved, trying to put herself between them and where she thought Jasper to be.

Thankfully, Chloe and X didn’t have far to run. They piled into the vehicle and it drove off. They watched out the windows as Annabelle was struck by a tall, black shape that appeared out of nowhere, but then the taxi rounded another corner and they were out of sight.

Annabelle grabbed Jasper as he became visible. He struck her, still not thinking clearly, and she tried to wrestle him to the ground. They were both strong and fast, growling with effort.

“Jasper, snap out of it!” Annabelle shouted urgently in his ear. “_Stop_!”

To Annabelle’s surprise, Jasper did stop. He blinked and growled. His eyes lost their intense stare and he stopped trying to resist Annabelle. She let him go and he stepped back, rubbing his hands over his face and rumbling unhappily.

“You okay?” Annabelle asked. “What _was_ that?”

“Sorry. Beast got hungry,” Jasper muttered. “It decided that it wanted to keep Chloe. I think… I think you saved a taxi driver’s life tonight.”

That shocked Annabelle. “You think you would have hurt him?”

“My Beast wanted to, yeah.”

Annabelle covered her mouth briefly, then sighed. “Well… good thing I was here then. You okay?”

Jasper looked at her. He looked deeply sad, regretful, and wretched. Annabelle knew the feeling. She had felt urges to kill before too. She hadn’t followed up on them yet, but still… she could relate.

“Sure,” Jasper lied, his voice quiet. “I’m okay. I'm sorry I scared you."

“It's okay. I've...seen you in worse states. It’s fine,” Annabelle reassured him. She reached out, meaning to just squeeze his arm, but wrapped him in a hug instead. He didn’t hug her back right away, but when he did, his grip around Annabelle was tight. It betrayed some of his inner turmoil. Jasper felt very tense, like he had a huge weight upon his soul. It made Annabelle quietly grateful that she still had Mark around.

Jasper pulled back and wiped his eyes. He felt terrible. “I want to go home,” he told Annabelle quietly.

“Yeah, yeah of course. Let me walk you home, at least part of the way, yeah?”

“Sure.”

“Would um… maybe you should text Eva? I don’t think you should be alone tonight.”

Jasper gave Annabelle a side on glare as they left the playground together.

“Hey, I don't know what’s going on between you and her, Jasper,” Annabelle said, defensive. “All I know is that you two obviously care about each other and… well… you need all the support you can get.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“But you’ll be better with Eva around and you know it.”

Jasper grumbled. He had to admit that Annabelle was probably right. One thing was for certain, and that was that he was tired of being alone. He had missed Chloe terribly, even though he had tried to push her away. Ghosting her hadn’t worked. Chloe was too determined for that. He wasn’t sure if he felt better after their conversation, but he hoped that Chloe did. He got out his phone and sent Eva a message, asking to see her if she was free for the rest of the night.

Meanwhile, X and Annabelle were also texting back and forth, each making sure the other was okay and each answering in the affirmative. 

It wasn’t too long of a walk back to the LA River. Jasper turned to Annabelle. “I’m okay from here. Eva’s said she’ll meet me in a bit.”

“Okay,” Annabelle said. “I’m sorry to spring Chloe on you tonight but… I think that talk had been a long time coming.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Jasper sighed with a little snarl.

“See you later?”

“Sure,” Jasper said. He sounded tired.

“Take care. Say hi to Eva for me.”

“I will. Bye.”

“Bye-bye.”

Jasper turned and disappeared into the darkness once again. 

Annabelle bit her lip with another heavy sigh. She didn’t envy Jasper his position at all. Her heart broke for him and the hard decisions he had to make five years ago. She knew she hadn’t been able to make the same decisions regarding her own partners.

Annabelle pulled her hood up and shoved her hands in her pockets. She turned and headed for her safe house, where Mark was waiting for her.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are always appreciated! <3


End file.
